Sharp County record., 1887-08-18
TALMAGES SERMON.
A Homily on Insurance, Lie, Fire
and Eternal.
The Christian Principles InvolVed-He-
sponsibility Resting Upon lnSur-
ance Mans Duty
to His Family.

Rev.T.De Witt Talmage's fourth SER
non at ''The Hamptons," was on an every
iaT topic: Life and Fire Insurance; the
Christian Principles Involved" dis text
vas:
Lethfm appoint officers over the land. and
tske I'd the fifth part Of the land OF Egypt IN
he seven plenteOus years.-Genesls XII. 81
These were the words Of Joseph, the
president of the first life insurance COM
many that the world ever saw. Pharaoh
had a dream that distracted him. he
thought he stood on the banks OF the river
Nile, and saw coming up out Of the river
seven fat, sleek, glossy cows, and they
ba~~.n 10 browse in the thick grass. Notn-
NJ frightful about that. But after them'
coming out Of the same river, he saw seven
COWS that were gaunt and starved
and the worst looking cows that had ever
f bAen seen in the land, and in the feroclty
of hunger they devoured their seven fat
predecessors. Pharaoh, the King, sent 1or
Joseph TO decipher these midnight Nero
glvphics. Joseph made short work OF H.
and that the seven COWS tnat came
. ont Of the river are seven years with plenty
70 eat. the seven emaciated cows that tol'
. lowed them are seven years with nothing
. 70 eat.
"Now." said Joseph, ''let Us take one
fifth Of the corn crop Of the seven prosper
Gus years. and keep II as a provision Tor
the seven wears in which there shall be no
. corn crop" .,
. The King took the counsel and appointed
. Joseph, because Of his integrity and pub
lic-spiritedness, as the president OF the un-
dertaking. The farmers paid one-ffth Of
. their income as a premium. In all the
towns and cities Of the land there were
. branch houses. This great Egyptian
life insurance company had millions OF
. dollars as assets. After awhile the dark
. 6avs came, and the whole nation would
have starved if il had not been for the pro-
visions they had made for the future. But
now these suffering families had nothing
. TO do but TO 20 up and collect the amount
f of their policies. The Bible puts it in one
short phrase:
In all the land OF Egypt there was bread
say this was the first life insurance
company. II was divinely organized. II
had in it all the advantages Of the whole
life plan" of the ''tontine plan" Of the
preserved endowment PLAN" and all the
other good plans. We are told that Rev.
DR.. Anhates sof Lincolnshire, England, ,origl-
mated the first life insurance company IN
16aS. No! II is as old as the cOrn-cribs OF
Fgvpt. and God himself was the author
and originator. If that were not so l
would not take your time and mine IN sab
bath discussion Of this subject. feel II IS
theme vital, religious and Of infinite I'M
port, the morals of life and fire insurance.
About ten or twelve years ago there was
e. great panic in life insurance, which did
good, Under the storm the untrustworthy
and bogus institutions were scattered,
while the genuine were tested and firmly
established. and where does the life insur-
snce institution stand to-day: What
amount Of comfort, Of education, Of moral
and spiritual advantage is represented in
E the simple statistic that in this country the
: life insurance companies in one year paid
500, 900 TO the families Of the bereft; and
( in FIVE years they paid S@oO,OO,OOO TO the
families Of the bereft: and are promising
to pay-and hold themselves in readiness
10 pav-S2. .000, ,010. 900 70 the families OF the
bereft.
They have actually paid out more in
4 dividends and death claims than they
have ever received in premiums. l know
I Of what speak. The life insurance COM
panies Of this country paid more than 81
10000 Of taxes 10 the Government in five
wears. So, instead of these companies be-
ing indebted to the land, the land is in
( debted 10 them. To cry out against life
insurance because here and there one
Z company has behaved badly is as absurd
es il would be for a man TO burn down
. !. 20 acres Of haveSt field in order to Kill
the moleS and potato bugs-as QrepoSteT-
ous as man who should blow up crowd
. ed Gteemer in mid-Atlantic for the purpose
Of DESTROYING the barnacles on the bottom
IF the k1lk.
But what does the Bible say in regard to
his abject: If the Bible favors the insti-
tuition. l will favor it; if the Bible de-
( nounces il, I will denounce il. In addi-
ton 10 the forecast Of Joseph in the text,
call your attention TO Paul's COM
parison. Here is one man who, through
neglect, fails 10 support his family while
he lives, or after he dies. Here is another
man who abhor the Scriptures and rejects
God. Which Of those men is the worse:
Well. YOU say, the latter. Paul says the
former. Paul SAYS that a man VINO neg
I lects to care for his household is more OBJ
noxious than a man whoreiects the Script
ures.
He that pro7ideth not for his Own, and espe-
eially those OF his oEn households worse than
81 infdel
Life insurance companies help most Of Us
70 provide for our families after we are
gone: but. if we have the money to pay the
premiums and do not pay them, we have
no right TO expect mercy at the hand Of
God in the Judgment. We are worse than
Iam Paine, worse than Voltaire, and worse
than Shaftesbury. The Bible declares it
we are worse than infidel.
After the certificate of death has been
made out, and thirty or sixty days have
passed. and the officer Of life insurance
company comes into the bereft household,
and pays down the hard cash on an insur-
ance policy, that officer of the company is
performing positively religious rite, &C.
cording 10 the Apostle James, who says:
True religion and undehled before God and The
Father IS this: To visit the fatherless and the
widow in their af7iciio
The religion Of Christ proposes to take
care Of the temporal wants Of the people